Drying apparatus.



.l. L. PlERCE.

DRYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED 050.28, I916.

Patented Jan. 22, 1918.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

Hum/[0B ZZZ. 7 29.769

A TTORN E y 8 J. L. PIERCE.

DRYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.28. 1916.

1 ,254,43 1 Patented Jan. 22, 1918.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES LOUIS PIERCE, OF MANILA, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, ASSIGNOR T0 PACIFIC COMMERCIAL COMPANY. OF MANILA, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, A CORPORATION OF PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.

DRYING APPARATUS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMESVLQPIERCE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Manila, in the Philippine Islands, have invented certain new and useful Improve ments in Drying Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to drying apparatus or evaporators, in the present instance for copra, and one of the main objects thereof is to provide means for supplying pure heated air to the copra and to provide means for maintaining said heated air at a high temperature by means of the heated gases produced by the combustion of the fuel in a furnace.

Another object is to provide the passages for the gases in the formof tortuous pipes in sets superposed one above another, and to provide compartments between said pipes in each set for the heated atmospheric air, said compartments being perforated to permit the escape of the heated air therefrom to act upon the copra.

Another object is to provide a plurality of superposed copra conveyers traveling in dif ferent directions whereby the copra is de posited upon each conveyor successively and carried the length of the apparatus to insure a maximum travel to the copra while the moisture is being extracted therefrom.

My drying apparatus is adapted to be used with any desired type of furnace though is particularly adaptable to the form shown and described in an application for patent filed by me herewith.

My invention is fully described in the following specification, of which the accompanying drawings form a part, in which like characters refer to like parts in each of the views, and in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of one embodiment of my apparatus, partly in section;

Fig. 2 is an end elevation, partly in section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1, partly showing structural parts thereover;

Fig. 4 is an end elevation; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged section, fragmentarily, taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings, 6 represents a housing having a pipe 7 leading thereinto for conveying heated pure air to the apparatus from a suitable furnace, not shown,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 22, 1918.

Application filed December 28, 1916. Serial No. 139,239.

and a pipe 8 connected to a vertical pipe 9 for conveying heated gases and smoke from the fuel in the furnace to said apparatus, the pipe 9 having a plurality of spaced branches 10 leading therefrom and entering the housr ing at different heights and the pipe 9 has a plurality of partition plates 11 suitably arranged therein for apurpose to be explained.

Each pipe or branch 10 is looped within the housing, in its particular horizontal plane, and joined to a vertical pipe 12 at the opposite side of the housing and adjacent the opposite end from that occupied by the pipe 9 and said pipe 12 is likewise provided with suitably arranged partition plates 13 and has its upper end open to the outer air.

Joining the pipe sections in each horizontal plane are upper and lower plates 14: and 15 the former of which is perforated, thus forming compartments between the pipe sections the ends of said compartments being closed as shown at 16, Fig. 8, and a pipe 17 leads into one end of one compartment and a pipe 18 into the opposite end of the other compartment, of each set of pipes 10 in each horizontal plane.

The pipes 17 are all connected with a stand-pipe 19 joined at its lower end to the hot air pipe 7 whereas all of the pipes 18 are connected witha stand-pipe 20 adjacent the other end of the apparatus likewise joined. to the hot air pipe'7, and it will be seen that the heated pure air from a furnace, under pressure as by means of a blower, is forced into all of the ompartments between the respective smoke and gas pipe sections and thence upwardly out of said compartments through the perforations in the plates 14.

The smoke and gases from the furnace are conveyed through atortuous path from the stand-pipe 9 to the stand-pipe 12, and re versely in alternate planes, the several portions in the stand-pipes 9 and 12 limiting upward movement of the smoke and gases to the successively higher planes, and it will thus be seen that a maximum travel of the heated products of combustion is insured through the apparatus, with the consequent. effect of maintaining the interior of the housing at a. higher temperature than would be the case were the pure air pipes alone provided,

is a horizontal conveyer 21 having one end I Arrangedadjacentthe top of the'housing extendedoutwardly of said housing, and of the endless belt type, with the carrying portion thereof arranged slightly above the uppermost perforated plate 14, Fig. 1, and. ad- "jacent the bottom of the housing is a similar conveyer 22llikewise extended beyond said housing and having its carrying portion ar ranged immediately above the lowermost perforated plate 14. i L.

i Interposed between the conveyei's 21 and 22are a plurality of conveyers 23, one in the 'osition-of each ofthe perforated plates 14- III thB several horizontal planes, and said I conveyers are] caused to travel simultane- 'ously, with V H alternate-conveyers in opposit Cl1ICtlOI1S.- i 1 r The inaterial to bedried is ted't'o the upper conveyer 21 and fallstrom the inner end thereof to the next lower conveyer 23,'being 'f guided thereon by meansot a curved plate 24, and to the successively lower conveyer 23 unti1 the dried material is deposited upon the conveyer 22 and carried outwardly of .7

the: h s a maximum degireeoi travel having resulted whereby a maximum degree of heat application. or .dry1ng results, and

; 3 the hotair fromthcuppermost plates 14; of

' honsingthrough a vent 25, Fig. p z

The endless conveyers are shown as mountthe. several compartments'escapes from the ed upon. rollers 26 and 27 and Iprefer to make the latter adjustable in order to adjust copies a: tan 'patnt y a obtained m -'the tension on "the respectiveconveyrs,'no

plurality of superposed eonveyers, a heating l unit arranged adjacent each conveyor, means 'for leading heated'air'to said units, and sup- 7 plemental heating means for said units. 7

2. In a a drying apparatus, housing a plurality of superposed con'veyers, a heat ng o unit arranged ad acent each conveyor, means 7 :torleadinglheated"air to said units, and means for leadingthe products of combustion to said units forsupplementing the latter, without. mixing therewith.

3.; In a drying apparatus, a liousi l s a plurality of superposed conveyers, a "feed pipe for heated gases, a stand-pipe connected therewith, a supplemental stand-pipe, plurality of coiled pipes joining said stand pipes and arranged adjacent the respective conveyers, sald last named stand-pipe being open to the air, means in said stand-p1pes for directing the gases through the successive coiled pipes from bottom to top, plates joiningthe convolutions of said coiled pipes to form compartments therebetween," and means for leading heated air from a furnace to all of said compartments.

JAMES Louis PIERCE;

five cents each, by addressing the Commissionerof'Patents,

Washington, D 0. 

